I read lots of journals. With some of them I maintain absolute currency; others languish in a pile until I can’t stand it anymore and then I rumple through the stack, seeking out tidbits of knowledge and insight that do no one any good if they remain unread.
Well, that’s what I do with one journal in particular. One that tends to be more abstruse than most (at least to me), but to which I feel allegiance, since I have had a few articles published therein. I should make it clear that I am an engineer, a business person, a financial specialist, and an inventor- and not a basic scientist. And, this journal is theoretically devoted to basic science.
But, not this article. Drs. James McNulty (Florida State), Michael Olson and Matthew Schafer (University of Tennessee-Knoxville). and Andrea Meltzer (Southern Methodist) published their article entitled, “Though They May Be Unaware, Newlyweds Implicitly Know Whether Their Marriage Will Be Satisfying”. I just sat there and tried to think….
Did I really know my marriage would be unsatisfying? Could I have been that asinine to say “I do” (OK, that is NOT part of the Jewish marriage ceremony, but you get the drift) knowing I should be saying “Hell, No!” I think I sat there fairly immobile- not reading the article, not listening to the TV and the radio (yes, they both play in my office- the cacophony keeps me focused on my work), for at least 15 minutes contemplating the title.
I do admit to not knowing (or caring, for that matter), that about ½ of all marriages failed. That means we can toss a coin and get heads as often as we can get married and remain so affiliated. (I’m sorry to ruin your day.) But, other than rolling the dice, I really didn’t consider that folks would marry- despite knowing they were not destined for that happy ending.
So, I read the piece. The researchers examined 135 couples (all newlyweds), who were asked to complete a questionnaire. And, again several times over the next few (four, to be precise) years. Not surprisingly, the data indicated that their satisfaction declined with time. But, they also determined that the initial answers to the questionnaires truly provided no true prediction as the longevity of the unions.
But, the researchers also employed ‘associative priming’ queries in their research. This meant those surveyed had to provide reactions to various words- claiming they either denoted positive or negative thoughts. With a twist. Right before the word appeared on the screens in front of them, a subliminal (300 ms) facial image was flashed.
Should the image be considered positive, it put the brain in a positive mindset and the word that may be positive created no problems for the subject. But if the image were associated with the negative, the brain became confused; manifesting subconscious dissonance. And, the brain response was slower than normal. The same applied when the image were positive and the words were negatively charged.
And, that led to the primary discovery of the research. If there were more negativity in the mind of the subject, the decline in marital satisfaction was more profound.
Now, we come to the dilemma of the piece. Did the subjects know they were being subliminally tested? Were the subjects unwilling to proffer honest and candid responses?
And, we don’t know…Which means that this is a wonderful exercise, but we still don’t know if the person we elect to marry will be the one with whom we elect to spend the rest of our lives.
And, here I was hoping for some profound guidance….
That’s why I love reading engineering publications. They provide more guidance as to how things really work…
(As an aside, here’s a lesson I learned early on. I went to a very practical university. Brooklyn Poly wanted us to be great engineers. That means making things work- well. And, to hell with the theory behind the “stuff”. For grad school, I went to MIT, which believe in the “science” of engineering- it’s why many of my fellow students earned an ScD and not a PhD- and didn’t necessarily care how things worked, but boy did we have to master those theories. Those two competing concepts afforded me the opportunity to develop my own happy medium…)
